Insane Infatuation
by Bunny1o
Summary: Taking place after Beetlejuice (the movie), Lydia calls upon the whacky ghoul once again to confront him about the recent catastrophe he caused her family to endure, however, the two unusual beings become closer and closer through planned circumstances- and become friends... Or maybe something more? Either way, Beetlejuice is still an oblivious bastard.
1. Chapter 1

Green light flashed on and off, creating an ominous aura tat emanated from room to room. The air seemed saturated with a stuffy dead stench, however, it was a warm saturation in which filled the pits of an empty soul's chest. Everyone was in the same dilemma, feeling the same feeling of 'help'. The bodies sat next to each other compactly, as if they were still in coffins, their putrid pop comic colored skin rubbed irritatingly against its neighbors, and their feet sat side by side on the turquoise floor as papers scattered in from the other room collected around these silently nonmoving appendages- but again, they were all there, feeling the same feeling; they were used to this familiar hardship of waiting.

There was one body however, a mentally different body, in which was restless. His feet tapped and kicked at the annoying accumulation of papers on the ground, and his yellowed eyes glanced around anxiously at the others.

One billion trillion forty nine million.

The sign above their heads read the red glowing numbers. The restless body of a soul looked down upon the foot long scrolled ticket in his stark pale, yet sickly yellow tinged hands. He was next, he was next! The ghoul grinned to his relieved amusement and suddenly the sign changed its glowing red numbers to: one billion trillion fifty million.

"One billion fifty million! …a mister Beetlejuice!" announced the pungently blue skinned receptionist, sliding her dividing shade to the side.

The restless ghoul jumped out of this sunken sofa chair (having been sandwiched between a man with a shrunken head, and a man with an arrow through his throat and chest) excitedly, holding up his scroll pf a ticket high in the air like it was a trophy. "HA! Suckers!" he grinned, waving the slip around in their faces, " _I'm_ next! Suck on that!"

Dusting off his tattered burgundy suit, the ghoul marched out of the waiting rom and straight through the operating room of workers typing on rows upon rows of desks, passing right by the flattened ran over man- who usually guided the lost souls- that was hanging from the ceiling; he knew exactly where he was going.

* * *

"Sit down."

An old woman commanded once the ghoul strode on into her dimmed office. He actually did as he was told, and grinned a mischievous grin at her. "Now what the hell do you want?" she asked, taking a slow puff from her cigarette; the smoke poured out of the slit in her throat.

"Well ya know," he replied, shrugging nonchalantly, "wanted to get my shit together. Just got eaten by a sandworm…you know they went up thirteen percent since last year?"

"I've heard." The woman said emotionlessly.

She was Juno, his caseworker. However, the two of them shared a history unlike any other of the 'help' yearning bodies waiting in the other room: he was once her case working assistant.

"Beetlejuice," she went on, slipping out his name that was uncommonly mentioned because of the three time jinx. "If you want to get your shit together then I suggest you finally try to take my advice." Juno jabbed her cigarette in his direction. Beetlejuice stared blankly at her.

She rolled her eyes but continued, "You almost killed the Deetz. And, you almost married their daughter! You have been way off your rocker, Beetlejuice. You have a bad reputation. And no one likes that. That's why you never have any customers! Try helping for once, and forget about 'what's in it for you'."

In response, Beetlejuice placed a hand to his chest in an offended manor, with a flaunted gasp. "That's just the way I roll, Junes baby! You're asking me to stop being me!" he paused then said with a sly smirk, "yeah that Deetz girl was smokin' hot by the way."

Juno looked at him with disgust as he simply smiled a yellow toothy smile in return.

"But that's not _you_." She replied, "You weren't _this_ bat-shit crazy when I first employed you. What happened to you?"

The room suddenly became thick with seriousness, and Beetlejuice was strangely quiet for once. The silence wasn't awkward, but it was long. However, the ghoul shook his head and smiled again, snapping his slender fingers to appear back in his usual black and white striped suit, replacing his red battered tux. "Well, that's who I am now!"

"Alright, listen, if you ever want to _turn things around,_ here's my direct contact number." Juno handed him a small slip of paper and he took it, shoving it into his pocket before getting up and leaned over the desk to place a huge smooch on the old woman's forehead. "Thanks a whole lot Junes, ya old bitch." He winked at her before disappearing into thin air, leaving the image of his troublemaker grin stained before her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Beetlejuice appeared back in his dumpy old home, plopping down upon his stingy- squeaky cushioned chair. He kicked his feet upon his grime covered coffee table in a relaxed manor, and took out Juno's card. The ghost sneered at the black, bold font of her name and number, and he discarded it out of his fingers with a swipe. "Who needs that." He muttered, rolling his yellowed eyes. His fingers patted the arm of the sofa chair anxiously; he was enormously bored- and alone, not to mention. Of course no one would want to live with him, and he did not want to live with anyone else either.

Beetlejuice sighed, slamming his hand down on a passing beetle bug, and brought the squirming thing to his mouth to chomp. Delicious.

However, that beetle snack did nothing to fill his satisfaction. He desperately wanted some action.


	3. Chapter 3

Lydia Deetz snapped a picture of spider making its way slowly across the hard wood floor. The sun shone bright white and yellow rays into the modernized house, and a sudden breeze seeped in through the open window, causing the helpless spider to be gusted away. The young adult of a girl sighed, reaching a hand out to help the spider regain its balance from being toppled over. She felt sympathetic for the spider; she felt _like_ the spider.

" _Oh Lydiaaaaaaa_!" Delia Deetz called; the ginger step mom marched into the room. "Dinner is almost ready. It's Mexicaaaa-!" Shrieking mid-sentence, the older woman pointed to the spider on the floor. "Get rid of that thing!"

Lydia rolled her eyes and stood with the insect in her hand, petting it lovingly. "It's just a helpless little spider, Delia. It won't hurt you."

"I heard they bite!" Delia stepped away as her step daughter held the bug out.

"You're being ridiculous." Lydia chuckled, going over to the window to let the spider crawl out. "Go on little guy, go home." She turned back around with a mocking, triumphant smile- showing that the spider was indeed innocent and walked past her mother to climb the stairs. "I'll be down in a few minutes for dinner, I'm going to get Barbra and Adam." The girl went all the way up to the third floor attic to politely knock on the door- only to be greeted by a man with wavy brown hair and glasses.

"Hi Lydia!" Adam, the ghost, smiled; his glasses twinkling. "Is dinner almost ready?"

"Yup." She replied. "That's why I came up. I think its Mexican take-out." They always had take-out thanks to Delia's terrible cooking.

"Oh I should cook one of these days!" Barbra announced from inside the attic room. She came up behind her husband and fixed her new dress that she was wearing. "I found out that we can still change our clothes." She beamed, showing off that new pale blue dress of hers (for they _were recently deceased_ , and were still figuring out the whole after-life thing).

"Nice!" Lydia smiled, then gestured for them to follow her downstairs. Everyone sat down at the dining room table and helped themselves to the food.

"So how's school, pumpkin?" Lydia's father, Charles, asked, biting into a taco.

"It's fine." She replied. "I'm doing a project in which we have to take pictures of things that have a deep meaning and connection to yourself." She smiled slightly, excited that she finally go to show off her photo taking skills.

Charles tried to cram another bite into his mouth. "That's lovely dear."

"You gotta show me the pictures when they are done, Lydia." Barbra chimed.

"Don't worry," Lydia replied, "I'll show all of you!"

* * *

Soon, when dinner was over the girl retreated to her room with her older ghost friends- they were practically family. Drawing her curtains close, Lydia glanced down to another bug that had found its way onto the windowsill; it was a beetle.

With her dark eyes, she stared at the bug in sudden deep thought. It reminded her of that "bio-exorcist". He really made a mess of things last time he was here. He even tried to marry her! What a joke!

"I wonder where he is now." She murmured.

"Who?" Adam asked, overhearing her.

"Beetlejuice."

The two ghost gasped at the use of that name. "Lydia!" Barbra's eyes were wide; they were attempting all this time to forget about that ghoul, but now he was brought up again. "Don't say that name!"

"Huh?" Lydia wrinkled her eyebrows, forgetting for a moment that his name was an invitation for him to show up. "Oh!" remembering, the girl slapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry!"

"Why in the world would you wonder about that sleaze?" Adam asked.

Lydia simply shrugged. "He's too unusual _not_ to think about, I suppose."

"Well, try not to." Barbra frowned, going over to place a hand on the girl's back. "Nothing good comes out of him."

Lydia nodded slightly, but she still felt a bit curious. "I'm going to go to bed now." She turned to face them before going to fetch a pair of black pajamas.

"Alright, goodnight." The couple waved goodbye and walked out like a pair of real living people, softly shutting the door behind them.

As Lydia changed, she kept contemplating the thought of Beetlejuice. What was his deal? Was he really that nuts?

* * *

" _Heh. Heh. Heh._ That'll screw 'em up real bad." Beetlejuice snickered as he snapped his fingers, causing the dead body of a recent death to disappear from its casket. Beetlejuice was currently crashing a Wake, showing up in a portrait of the recently deceased- seeming that the ghoul wasn't properly invited into the living world, he could only manifest himself into objects, like pictures and mirrors. He placed the body at the family's home, sitting in the living room with the TV on as if he was watching it. This prank was golden.

"Wait until they get a load of this." He giggled as the mourning family began to pour into the funeral parlor. Beetlejuice quickly switched into another picture at the back of the room so that he wouldn't be detected. Once the grieving wife set her eyes on the empty casket, a blood curdling scream echoed out of the building.

Laughing hysterically, Beetlejuice ad to take a second to appear back into the Neitherworld to recuperate. He laughed so hard that his sides hurt, and he toppled back over onto his sofa couch, being back home. "Idiots! Ever heard of the walking dead?! AHA!" he snorted.

Beetlejuice finally calmed down after a long moment, and trudged over to his refrigerator to grab a can of beer; he expected that it may take that family a little while to find the body back at their home. Beetlejuice had to admit that he enjoyed alcohol more than the next person, but even as one would assume that he'd be an alcoholic, he never really had the time to drink. He was always getting into trouble. But during boring times like this, he'd always enjoy getting drunk and eating a handful of beetles or two.

However, just as he popped the lid open, something caused him to freeze.


	4. Chapter 4

Lydia paced around her room, it was late now, but she couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about Beetlejuice- trying to figure him out. She never thought of him this much before, and it was bothering her. She just wanted answers. He was shrouded in mystery, strange, insane mystery. Lydia was tempted to say his name three times, but she knew it would be bad news. Perhaps she should just try to go back to bed.

The girl climbed back into her safe, warm bed, but she still sat up in anxiety, her eyes peering around her inky purple room.

" _Beetle…_ "

She began, but then she thought about Barbra and Adam. If she invited him, then her friends upstairs could not find out. Neither could her parents….

But her curiosity desperately got a hold of her. It was a chance she'd just have to take.

"Beetlejuice." She took a deep breath. "Beetlejuice."

One more time.

"Beetlejuice…"

Right before her, the infamous ghoul appeared, ready to take a drink of his sweet alcohol; but the sudden change in scenery made him stop and shriek.

"What the hell?"

Lydia was quiet as she slipped out of bed to take a closer look. The estranged ghoul turned slowly to look at her as well.

They were quiet, but then he grinned and made his beer can disappear. This was much more interesting than getting drunk.

"Lydia, right?" He asked, slinking closer, "what a turn of events! I thought you didn't like me, babes! Ya know, letting me gettin' eaten by a sand worm and all, puttin' a stop to our wedding. Is it because of the ring? I told ya, she didn't mean nothin' to me!" Beetlejuice snickered, appearing right behind the girl to place his hands on her shoulders.  
"No, no, no!" Lydia cried, shrugging him off. "I don't like you like that in the first place! I just called you because...I wanted answers."

"Answers, huh?" The ghost narrowed his eyes. "Well, what do you wanna know, sweetheart? I'm an open book." He grinned, shining his yellowed teeth in her face.  
Lydia frowned, but was glad that he was actually cooperating. For the moment however. "What's your deal?" She replied bluntly.

"My _deal_?" Beetlejuice restated perplexed, and went around to face her.

"Yeah, your deal." Lydia crossed her arms pointedly. "Why are you so rude to people? Why do you want to scare humans so badly?"

Beetlejuice was briefly taken back by her question, but then replied, "Woah, woah, woah, babes, we barely know each other! I can't be telling you all my beliefs and memoirs!"

He was obviously trying to veer around the question.

"But I thought you were an open book!" Lydia exclaimed, frowning again.  
Beetlejuice smiled almost in a sheepish way. "Listen Lyds, I do things because I simply can. I act certain ways because that is simply who I am. Now can everyone stop beING STUCK UP MY ASS ABOUT IT!" The ghost was annoyed that everyone seemed to be really getting on his case about his behaviors; he wasn't a child.  
Lydia gasped slightly at his response, looking him over as he scowled to himself. "I just wanted to know. I'm not telling you to change."

"Oh really?" The ghoul raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, really. You're very strange... There aren't enough strange people in the world."  
Lydia thought about herself, and how she was usually outcasted in her school; there wasn't really any one else— living that is— that shared common interests with her. She sighed, and sat back down on her bed. "If you had to change anything, I'd say to stop forcing people into marriage."

With a snort, Beetlejuice laughed. "No promises, babes."  
The ghoul gave a sinister grin and creeped closer, causing Lydia to scoot backwards as he climbed onto the bed as well. "You're quite strange yourself. There must be another reason for you to call me up here... Do ya still want me to get rid of your folks for ya?" He cracked his fingers excitedly.  
"No, no! I'm serious Beetlejuice, I just wanted to know that one thing!" Lydia exclaimed, backing all the way up to the wall behind her. She could smell his decaying stench, it was putrid and made her nose tingle.  
The ghost in front of her suddenly waved a slender finger at her before placing his whole hand on her mouth. "Uh, uh, uh! Don't say the B word, hun. I don't wanna go back yet. And I got a feelin' in my gut that you don't want me to leave either..." He grinned when Lydia gave a small, truthful nod in return; he slowly removed his hand.  
However, Lydia still gave him a notable look. "Unless you do something I don't like."  
Beetlejuice rolled his eyes flauntingly, and shook his head. "Oh c'mon babes, everyone loves what I do."  
With a snicker, he hopped off the bed, brushed off his striped suit, and fixed his cuffs. "Wanna play a game, Lydia?"

The girl frowned slightly, apprehensive at first, but then curiously agreed, slipping off the bed as well; maybe she could get to know him better.  
"Well, then!" Beetlejuice rose up into the air, hovering two feet off the ground with that big excited smile of his. "It's... SHOWTIME!" 


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, where am I?" Lydia spun around in confusion; she was in a totally different location. Her room had turned into a long dark hallway with thick, ominously blue air.  
"We're still in your house, babes, don't worry. I just...changed it a little." Beetlejuice's guttural, husky voice echoed through the cavern like hall. He was no where in sight.  
Lydia frowned again, she had a bad feeling. "So what's the game?"  
As the words left her mouth, a gold and red flashing arrow sign appeared before her. In big, bold red neon letters it read: MAZE. Then, a ticking timer suddenly dropped onto the ground, counting down from ten minutes.  
"Oh," the girl smiled slightly at the proposal of a challenge. "Want me to go through a maze, huh? Alright; let the game begin."  
She went off, running down the hall to turn into hallway after continuous hallway. She only had ten minutes it seemed, and she didn't want to find out what happened when time ran out.  
Suddenly however, she came to a screeching halt when she came face to face to a hall of funhouse mirrors. The tall, short, elongated, irregular, mirrors hung on every square inch of wall. Lydia decided that this wasn't the best way to go, so she turned back around to go down another hall, but she was instantly trapped— the way she came was blocked off. Damn.  
Lydia cautiously made herself walk down the hall of mirrors, eyeing each one with distrust.  
"I hate looking at myself." She muttered, having to constantly stare at herself in the mirrors.

"Is it because I'm too skinny?" Her voice ran out in response, but...Lydia wasn't the one to speak!  
Turning to face where her own voice came from, she saw herself in only one mirror now— but her reflection was one of a skeleton! Her hair was ratty, paper thin, and her eyes were horribly sunken in.  
Lydia screamed, not expecting to see herself like that, and quickly double checked her actual body; it was simply an illusion. Nothing to be afraid of. And noting that, she giggled before turning to continue down the hallway.  
When she reached the end, there was a door that read: ENTER on it. Lydia quickly opened it, but when she took a step in, she went tumbling down, down, down a pitch black hole. The poor girl screamed as she felt herself falling, her stomach making flips and her arms flailing.  
Laughter rung out from around her, and Beetlejuice appeared next to her as she continued to fall. He, however, didn't seem to experience the same horror she was; he was leaning back with his legs crossed comfortably. "You only got three minutes left, Lyds." He smiled and took a chomp out of a beetle he was holding. "Just gotta get through this last little part of the game."  
Instantly, he vanished, and with him, the scenery changed.  
Lydia landed on a pile of sand not as hard as she expected. It appeared that she was outside now; surrounding her, a vast desert and dark gray skies.  
"What a game." She muttered, pulling herself up onto two feet.  
However, something thick and black brushed up against her leg, causing her to fall back down. What was that?  
"I'd run if I were you." Beetlejuice's disembodied voice rang out again. "The house is the finish line."

Just then, Lydia noticed her house in a distance. She got up again and began sprinting.  
As she ran, the sandy ground beneath her started to crumble and crack apart.  
There was a loud growl-like hiss, and out of the corners of her eyes, she could see a black mass traveling in her direction through the smoky fog.  
The black mass grew larger and larger the closer she got to her house, and soon, the whatever-it-was finally showed itself.  
Slithering up behind her, the mass appeared to be a snake of some sort, with four beady eyes, and a hissing strangely striped tongue. The beast was something Lydia had only seen once before; it was the thing that ate Beetlejuice at their supposed 'wedding'.  
Lydia felt a little thankful towards the thing, in that it ate the ghost before they could get hitched— however, that thankful feeling quickly turned to panic, as it rose higher out of the ground, showing it's doubled row of sharp teeth in a hiss. It was going to eat _her_ now!  
But she was almost there! Almost to the finish line!  
Lydia dodged the snake's shot at bitting her foot, and she made a break for it, slipping right through her front door, and slamming it right before the snake could grab a good bite at her.  
The girl let out a sigh of relief, slowly sliding to the floor with her back still pressed against the door.  
Just then, a big, annoyingly bright spotlight shone straight on her, with flashing gold and green lights. "Congratulationssss! Lydia Deetz you are the grand prize winner! Give up and pick up your prize now, or continue for a bonus round!" A game show moderator voice spoke out of nowhere, but she knew it was just Beetlejuice.  
Shielding her eyes from the bright light, Lydia replied, "Beetlejuice stop it, you almost killed me!"  
The lights instantly vanished, and the ghoul himself appeared before the girl, sitting on the ground in a criss cross position. "Aw c'mon babes, all of that was just a figment of my magic. I'm all outta juice now, by the way." He frowned but then waved a finger, "B word, Lyds, don't say it."  
Lydia took a deep breath, feeling as if she should be mad at him— but instead, she actually laughed. "Well that _was_ exhilarating. And I liked the funhouse mirrors."  
Beetlejuice looked a little shocked at first, as if he wasn't expecting that reaction, but then he smiled again.  
He was about to say something, however, he was silenced when there was a sudden: "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!"  
With a disappointed groan, the ghost instantly disappeared; Barbra stood in his place.  
"Lydia!" She whispered, noting that it was still the middle of the night, "What are you doing?! He could have hurt you!"  
The female ghost picked the girl up off the floor and both made their way upstairs. "I'm sorry Barbra." Lydia admitted, looking away. "But I had it under control... He didn't hurt me. It seemed like he actually didn't want to."  
Barbra sighed in response. She opened Lydia's door to her room, and brought the young woman back to bed. "Please, Lydia...I know you have a tendency to get curious about the deceased but we all know he is something not to be reckoned with; he's wild. We can't have him running about the house."  
Lydia nodded and let her friend tuck her into bed. "Don't tell Adam."

"I won't. This is between the both of us. Just promise me you won't invite him back again?"

"...I promise." The girl replied softly. She kissed Barbra goodnight and watched the ghost leave, shutting the door behind her. Lydia frowned; she wanted to invite him back... But she made a promise.

"Hey babes." Beetlejuice's voice suddenly echoed through her room. "Don't look so glum."

To Lydia's amusement, the ghost leaned comfortably against the inside of her mirror.  
"What are you doing here? I didn't invite you back." She whispered.

He smiled. "Oh, I'm still in the Neitherworld. But I can make possessions to... _partly_ be here."

Lydia nodded but then asked, "Nietherworld? Is that where all the dead go? I've never heard Barbra and Adam mention it before."

"Yup. It's like your world but more disgusting." He grinned, running a hand through his unruly, faded green hair.  
Lydia rolled her eyes but she truly felt curious about this so called 'Neitherworld'. But as she continued to think about the name, she began to recall that it was listed a couple times in the Handbook for the Recently Deceased. If you ever needed to get to it, draw a door; but that was for ghosts only...  
Lydia was simply a human, still living.  
"Is there any way I could see it?" She asked with hope in her eyes.  
Beetlejuice raised his eyebrows; she wanted to get _in_? All he wanted to do was get _out_! This Deetz girl really was strange! And he liked it. "Maybe I could take you in someday babes. But you should be gettin' sleep, catch some Z's." As he said that, a bunch of glowing green Z's circled through the air, and he reached out of the mirror to catch them, throwing the letters into his coat pocket.  
Even though she felt slightly disappointed with his response, Lydia couldn't help but to giggle.  
"You've got school tomorrow." He continued with a shrug.  
The girl wrinkled her eyebrows and sat up more. "How do you know that?"

Beetlejuice blankly pointed to her school bag and books that were sitting slumped on the floor next to her closet. "I'm not that much of a bonehead." His head transformed into a yellowed rotten skull, and his eyeballs popped out.  
Lydia shrieked but then burst into a small fit of giggles once more. He really was quite humorous! For her taste anyhow.  
Beetlejuice grinned, enjoying the fact that he was actually making someone laugh.  
"Alright, alright," Lydia laid back down with a wave of her hand, "goodnight now."

"Sweet nightmares." He replied in his deep voice as he swiftly vanished from sight.


	6. Chapter 6

He wasn't that bad...just a little whacky that's all. Lydia pondered the thought as she marched her way through school, waving at a few of her friendly classmates as they passed by. She wasn't truly _that_ outcasted at school, especially since she meet Barbra and Adam; her anti-social dark demeanor changed slightly and she became a bit more outgoing towards others. But she still didn't have any good friends.  
Live ones at least.  
She sat down in her seat, taking out her text book for science class when her teacher placed a flipped over paper on her desk.  
"I know you can do better than that Mrs. Deetz." The teacher smiled sympathetically down at the young woman before continuing on to pass the quizzes out.  
Lydia frowned, turning over the paper to see a big red mark of a "B-"; it wasn't that bad actually, but her teacher was right: she could have done better. Science was one of her favorite classes besides History. However, the topic of aquatic life– which was on the quiz– wasn't really her thing, unlike insects.  
Lydia gave a small shrug to herself and put the paper away to open up her text book to page 44. This new chapter was about trees and soil. On the left page was a large illustration of a dark set of woods while on the right page the introduction was stated.  
About half way through her readings, the girl was suddenly interrupted by a familiar guttural voice.  
"WOAH! Hey Lyds, didn't expect to bump into you here!"

Lydia's eyes widened as she saw Beetlejuice standing right in the illustration on the left page of her book! He was leaning nonchalantly on one of the trees, picking at his dirty, reddened finger nails. He smiled up to her and gave a salute. "I was just walkin' along this good 'ol forest and BOOM, there you where! Lookin' straight up down at me! What a coincidence! Out of all the text-book-forests in the world!" He snorted, shaking his head with that goofy grin.

Frowning at the Beetlejuice-less page, Lydia decided to continue to make an effort to actually do her schoolwork; it was so hard to focus however, with that whacky ghost at the back of her mind.

When the school day came to a close, Lydia made her way through the hallway to reach her locker; unfortunately, someone smoothly tan and blonde stood blocking it.  
Claire Brewster.  
Lydia did not like that girl one bit. Claire was always a nasty bitch to her and anyone else who wasn't in her stereotypical popular group.  
"Excuse me, Claire. You're blocking my locker." Lydia spoke as nicely as possible, giving a small forced smile.  
The blonde turned around to face Lydia with a scowl and crossed arms. "Oh, is this your locker? I'm sorry Lydia...but you'll just have to keep on walking. I'm waiting for my boyfriend."  
Lydia narrowed her eyes slightly and inwardly sighed. "Please, can't you just move over?"

"Can't you just die?"

"Someday." Lydia murmured, simply giving up and walking past the terrible girl. She didn't feel like dealing with that stupidity. But if anyone could throw her back into depression it was Claire Brewster.

Claire smirked, leaning back onto Lydia's locker with satisfaction.  
However, there became a faint tickling feeling on the blonde's shoulders and head in which irritated her. She reached up to scratch the itch away only to meet something cold and hard sitting on her shoulder.  
Blue eyes widening, Claire stepped away from the locker as she slowly plucked the thing from her shoulder.  
It was a beetle.  
And she was covered in them.  
"AHH!" The girl shrieked, swatting at her shoulders, head and hair with her hands to try to fling the fowl insects off. Spinning around, she had noticed the swarm that was scattering out from Lydia Deetz locker.  
"DEETZ, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" Claire screamed; everyone in the hallway simply stared.  
Inwardly, they were all laughing.

* * *

"Oh Barbra, Claire is such an awful girl." Lydia confessed, leaning against the ghost as they sat on the couch in the living room. Adam was there tinkering with his miniature town set. "I just don't understand how someone could be like that." Lydia frowned.

Barbra shrugged, running her hand through Lydia's black hair. "There are some really evil people in the world, Lydia. You just have to pay no mind to them. She's the miserable one."

Lydia nodded silently, simply letting herself rest against Barbra, before releasing a sigh. "Alright. I'll leave you both alone. I'm going to be in my room."  
Waving a small goodbye, Lydia made her way upstairs and into her room. Her nice, dark room.

He was only three calls away.

But should she? Again?  
He did invite himself into her textbook today...  
And he could show up in her mirror again...  
But she didn't want to wait for him to show up again. She wanted to see him now.  
It was the terrible truth.  
Maybe he could make her laugh again.

"Beetlejuice..." Lydia began hesitantly, but after taking a breath, she continued. "Beetlejuice. ...Beetlejuice."

Just as the last letter left her mouth, he was there in a quick flash, sitting on her bed with his legs crossed in anticipation, as if he had expected to be called.  
"Hi, how ya doin'?"

"Not that great." She replied with a somber look. She sighed again and went over to her dresser to peel off her navy blue cardigan.

Beetlejuice frowned, kicking his legs back and forth as they dangled off of the bed like a child. "Yeah, who is that bimbo bitch? Ya know, the one at school?"

"Claire Brewster." She scowled, but then suddenly turned to look at him. "How do you know about her?"

"AW, SO YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU DIDN'T SEE MY LITTLE CHARADE I PLAYED ON HER?! C'MON, LYDS, IT WAS PERFECT!" Beetlejuice instantly groaned, pulling at his face with his dirtied fingers.  
Lydia's eyes were wide at his response and she came closer. "No, what charade?"

"I dumped a bunch of beetles on her! She made you a little _bugged_ , so I wanted to return the favor!" He snickered, placing his hands on his knees as he laughed.  
Slapping a hand over her mouth, Lydia tried not to laugh as well; picturing the image of Claire swarmed with beetles crawling all over her. "Beetlejuice!"

"Whaaaaat?!" He raised his hands up innocently. Then he shot up, and appeared right in front of the girl.  
He was so close that his stench burned her nose again.  
With a mischievous smile, he asked lowly, "Wanna go to the Neitherworld with me? I'll take you. Right now."

"Really?" Lydia stepped back in shock. Her heart skipped a beat. She was so excited but yet again, her nerves were on fire. "...Are you sure? Can you bring me back as well?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the ghost with the most, babe, I can do it all. Now cmon, cmon, cmon; lets go!" He practically whined.

Lydia was hesitant, but she ended up smiling. "Alright, alright."

"Yeahhhhh!" Beetlejuice excitedly cheered and picked Lydia right up off of the ground bridal style. "You're gonna have so much fun, babes. Now do me a favor and say those B words."

Lydia blushed as she was literally swooped off of her feet. "Ah...okay."  
Upon saying those three words, there was a sudden green flash and a gust of wind. Lydia had her eyes squeezed tight and she gripped onto Beetlejuice's striped suit.  
But the travel only lasted for five long seconds.  
"We're heeeeeere!"  
With a cackle, he put the girl down on the dirt ground and grinned.  
When she opened her eyes, she was astounded; the sky was a deep reddish orange with tinges of pink, and the ground was filled with sunken pot holes and cliffs in which shone a glowing green; the houses were stacked closely together like how they would be in a city, but each was painted the color black— besides from the wacky colors of the sky and below the ground, the only other vibrant colors emanated from the flashing signs, lights, and billboards over head. The lights reminded Lydia of Time Square in New York City— except it wasn't as busy.  
There was wispy fog and the air smelt like dead corpse.  
But it was all very cool to Lydia.  
"How do you like it, Lyds?" Beetlejuice's face suddenly appeared before her eyes; he was floating upside down over her with his hands in his pockets.  
"It's wicked." She replied with an awed smile. Walking around him, she continued to let her eyes explore this wondrous place. There was a man and a woman quickly passing by; the man had one eyeball hanging out of it's socket while the woman had the crown of her head ripped off, her blonde hair drooping from the torn skin.  
On the other side of the street, there were a pair of children playing hop scotch; their skin had an decaying shade of yellow with purpled veins wiggling through.  
Lydia grinned. "Oh Beetlejuice, it's so sick!"

The ghoul floated up behind her before dropping back down on the ground. "Yeah, you could say that." He replied with a shrug, but then smiled excitedly. "C'mon Lydia, let me take you to my house!"  
Beetlejuice took her hand and pulled her along the road.  
"You mean you have a _house_?" Lydia asked, actually surprised for some odd reason. She'd always suspected him to be a vagabond of sorts– not someone whom owned a home!  
Beetlejuice snorted. "Of course I do, babes! I mean...I'm never really in it 'cuz I'm doin' a whole bunch of stuff...but in the Neitherworld, it's mandatory that each being gets somewhere to stay. Especially if they didn't die in a residence."

Lydia nodded, and continued to follow him closely.  
As they passed through streets and skinny dark alleyways, she'd want anything but to get lost here.  
Then after a few more twists and turns, they stopped to a halt. "Ta da!"  
Beetlejuice grinned; in front of them stood a two story, black apartment building which was tightly sandwiched between two others.  
"This is it!" He exclaimed, pulling Lydia up the front concrete, uneven stairs to fling open the front door.  
Lydia noticed that his door mat read: GET OUT.  
With a giggle, she followed him inside.  
"Wow, what a palace you got here." Lydia said, glancing around the dirty apartment; it was very disorganized, with a cluttered mess all over the floor.  
He wasn't a hoarder— at least most of his trash scraps were thrown out— but he did have newspapers, books, clothes, and all of those knickknacks scattered about the floor as if he simply discarded the things to the floor once he was done with them.  
There was a lonesome sofa in the living room along with a small box tv, and the room opened up into the kitchen area in the back. That was nothing special as well, with a skinny fridge and a grimy countertop and crusty stove.  
Lydia assumed that his bedroom was upstairs from the dark wooden staircase that was in the front of the house.  
"Well, home's home!" He announced, hopping onto his springy sofa to stretch out.

"It's...very dirty." Lydia replied with a small smile, not sure if she should go a head and sit somewhere or continue to stand.

Beetlejuice sat up and scooted over, patting the space next to him, inviting her to sit; which she greatly accepted.  
"Thank you babes!" He beamed. "I've been trying so hard to keep it that way."  
Suddenly, there was a slam, as his hand hit the wooden floor in crushing a run away beetle. He swiped the squashed bug up and popped it in his mouth, crunching it with his yellowed teeth.  
Lydia stuck out her tongue in disgust but ended up laughing as he looked back at her innocently, as if he did nothing wrong.  
"Well babes, I'm glad you like it down here!" He went on to say, sitting up more. "I bet you were simply _dying_ to come here." With a chuckle, the ghost bopped the girl's nose, then suddenly stood from the sofa. "Wanna scare the shit outta some freaks? C'mon, c'mon, lets do it."


	7. Chapter 7

With blush tinted cheeks from the pervious gesture of Beetlejuice bopping her nose, Lydia had to take a moment to think before asking, "Who is it that we'd be scaring?"

"Who ever you'd like, babe." He replied point blank. "But I would like to stop on by to that punk ass down the street. I wanna scare him real bad."

"Oh yeah? What's his deal?" Lydia questioned with a small smirk, wondering who Beetlejuice, of all people, would think to call a 'punk ass'.

"His name is Vincent Brewster. Thinks he's king of everything." Beetlejuice snorted and looked through the blinds of his window as if the guy was standing right outside. "Yeah. KING OF THE FUCKIN TRASH CAN!"  
He shook his head. "What a loser. Gets my panties in a real twist, ya know?"  
A pair of red and blue polka-dotted boxers appeared in mid air and twisted as if invisible water was being rung out. That made Lydia giggle. However she hoped that those weren't his actual pair of underwear.  
"Wait a minute Beetlejuice," she piped up after her fit of giggles, "what did you say his name was again?"

"Vincent Brewster."

Lydia's eyes went wide. Brewster? He couldn't be related to Claire Brewster could he? She had never overheard Claire talk about a deceased brother or relative before... But then again, there wasn't a lot of things she really knew about Claire.  
"Know him, babes?" Beetlejuice asked with a raised eyebrow, leaning forward with his hands in his pockets.  
Lydia shrugged. "No...I was wondering if he was related to Claire."  
Beetlejuice shrugged as well and grabbed the girl's hand to pull her towards the front door again. "Let's go then!"

* * *

"There he is..." Beetlejuice peeked his head over a pile of trash bags and narrowed his eyes.  
Vincent Brewster was hanging out with a few of his friends on the sidewalk. The teenage corpse had light blue skin, darkened eyes and pale, almost white hair.  
"How'd he die?" Lydia asked in a soft voice, creeping up next to Beetlejuice.  
The ghoul smirked. "Steroids. Guess the fool took too many. Not my problem they didn't work." He snickered in gesture that the corpse had little muscle. "Now watch this, Lyds."  
With that, Beetlejuice disappeared all together.  
She waited for something to happen, and after a short moment, there was a scream.  
Vincent's fingers began to melt right off and onto the ground! The young corpse shrieked, perplexed and terrified of what was happening to his hands. "W-What the fuck?! Guys h-help!"  
But, his not-so-loyal entourage fled the scene as fast as possible– knowing all too well _who_ was the cause for this.  
Vincent stepped back, but something caused him to trip, and the boy fell face first into the sludge that once was his fingers. With a disgusted groan, he pulled himself up and after wiping his face, he just so happened to glance back down at that sludge puddle— and a sandworm, bearing a shiny set of razor sharp teeth, was staring right back at him in the reflection.  
"AHHH!" Vincent flung himself backwards before scurrying to his feet to run away. Unfortunately, the corpse did not stop to notice that his fingers were back to normal, and that there was no sandworm chasing him— he simply kept running and running.  
Beetlejuice burst out laughing, standing before Lydia once again. "What do ya think, babes? Ain't he an asshole or what? Just standin' there with his fake friends..." His tone turned slightly bitter towards the end but he still kept that champion smile on his face.  
Lydia giggled with a roll of her eyes. "Seems like you're the bigger asshole, Beetlejuice."  
Upon hearing that, the ghoul slipped closer and placed his hand over her mouth. "C'mon he deserved it! –And you /really/ gotta stop callin' me by my name, sweetheart."  
Lydia gently pried his hand away. "Well then, what should I call you?"

"I dunno." Beetlejuice shrugged, swiping out a cigarette from his striped pocket and lit it to flames with his unseen magic. "Why don't ya call me BJ?"

"Alright, sounds good." Lydia responded, glancing him over as he blew out a steady stream of white smoke from his cigarette. She enjoyed the fact of how strange he was; with his outlandish striped suit and hair that reminded her of dry lemons and limes.  
"What are ya staring at, babes?" His voice suddenly interrupted her brief thoughts, jarring her out of it. He was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, before suddenly there was a flashing of blue and red lights.  
Beetlejuice shrieked in surprise and in a split second grabbed Lydia by the hand and dashed down an alleyway to hide from street's view.  
"What was that all about?" Lydia asked, glancing up to him as they were now stuck in a dead ended alleyway with pretty compacted walls on either side. Her back was literally touching the brick, but he was still a foot away.  
Beetlejuice suddenly shushed her, putting a finger to her lips. "That was the police." He whispered. "I forgot to tell you that it's illegal to bring _live_ _people_ to the Nietherworld. I mean...not like I care, but I literally just got outta prison and I don't wanna go back."

"Prison? Police? You still have that down here?" Lydia was surprised; she was surprised about a lot of things! Beetlejuice having been to prison before? Not so much. With a little cough, waved the smoke away from his cigarette that was still hanging from his mouth, in attempts not to inhale the stuff.

"Yes! It fucking sucks, babes. You'd think after you die, things get easier!" He stuck out his tongue and took out his cigarette between two fingers. "But anyways, we can't have people finding out you're still alive."

"Jeez, I wish you told me that earlier."

Beetlejuice sighed and hunched his shoulders. "I just forgot okay? If anyone asks you... Drowned. Or something."

"Drowning?" Lydia snorted, then went on to mutter in a poetic tone, "Can't I go on to say that I died simply out of boredom and loneliness? That my poor, black heart couldn't take it anymore?"

Beetlejuice's eyes widened slightly and he backed away, only to have his back hit the wall behind him. "Uh...sure. Go ahead." He stuck the burning cigarette back into his mouth before turning to walk away, muttering, "God damn poetics; you know I hate 'em."


End file.
